Talking about the weather never gets old, even in corporate boardrooms.

Take the Polar Vortex. For many companies last winter, it was the go-to excuse for poor performance. Makes sense if you are cancelling thousands of flights or selling motorcycles, but selling products online? Debatable.

There’s a tug-of-war happening in today’s business technology environment, between traditional IT roles and end users of technology. The recent scandal over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of private email service and home server instead of IT resources approved by the organization perfectly highlights the struggle, which is fundamentally centered on how companies get the most from their technology and their IT departments.

In order to better align with their high-end market position, accelerate top line sales growth, and enhance profitability, a regional sporting goods retailer sought to re-evaluate their brand strategy and messaging.

I was lucky enough to attend Super Bowl XL. The experience is one in a million. Two top teams, amped up to play the most important game of their lives. But then the live action just stops, for what seems like a really long time. Why? The network is airing commercials.

Incidents and events once considered local issues are spilling over borders and having global repercussions.

With sanctions lifted and a massive stockpile waiting, Iran is ready to flood the market with more oil. But the ramifications to an already deflated price per barrel are global in reach.

A $100+B (assets) diversified financial services organization needed to improve its communications and branding to increase engagement and performance of its customer-facing financial advisors.

I don’t claim to be an expert on parenting or education, but like many I had a fair amount of skepticism when I noticed how my daughter did her math problems. Gone were the rote times-tables, memorization, and lengthy explanations that I grew up with – all replaced by number lines and boxes. Exercising patience, I spent some time thinking and reading about the new theories in math education and admit, I became a convert.

Human beings are driven by the idea that with success comes happiness. The harder we work, the more successful we’ll be, which will ultimately make us happier. We subscribe to this in business too, believing that with hard work comes…

A multi-billion dollar global food products company had just completed an acquisition and needed an interim VP. The client was in transition and had several investment opportunities that required performing due diligence, valuations and presentations to the Board of Directors.

As I write this, a Bloomberg headline screams “Global Stocks Fall as China Moves Unnerve Markets,” which is certainly not the first bearish piece we’ve seen over the past few weeks. This challenging environment reinforces the importance of seeking new ways to grow and to enter new markets (see our recent InSights article for some thoughts on how to tackle this).